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https://github.com/robotpy/pynetworktables2js

Forwards NetworkTables traffic to a web page, allowing you to write custom dashboards for your robot using HTML/Javascript
https://github.com/robotpy/pynetworktables2js

dashboard frc html javascript networktables python robotpy

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Forwards NetworkTables traffic to a web page, allowing you to write custom dashboards for your robot using HTML/Javascript

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README 

        
pynetworktables2js

==================



A cross platform library that forwards NetworkTables key/values over a WebSocket,

so that you can easily write a Driver Station Dashboard for your robot in HTML5 +

JavaScript.



This library does not provide a full dashboard solution, but is intended to

provide the necessary plumbing for one to create one with only knowledge

of HTML/JavaScript. Because the communications layer uses NetworkTables, you

can connect to all FRC languages (C++, Java, LabVIEW, Python).



.. note:: NetworkTables is a protocol used for robot communication in the

          FIRST Robotics Competition, and can be used to talk to

          Shuffleboard/SmartDashboard. It does not have any security, and should never

          be used on untrusted networks.



Documentation

=============



Documentation can be found at http://pynetworktables2js.readthedocs.org/



Installation

============



Easy install (Windows only)

---------------------------



1. Download the latest pynetworktables2js.exe from GitHub at

   https://github.com/robotpy/pynetworktables2js/releases .

2. Extract the exe from the zipfile, and copy it to your directory of HTML/JS

   files.

3. Double click the exe to run it!



.. note:: By default, it will connect to 127.0.0.1. To connect to a robot,

          you will need to pass the exe arguments to tell it where the robot is.

          Use ``--help`` to see the available options.



Manual install

--------------



Make sure to install python 3 on your computer, and on Windows you can

execute::



    py -3 -m pip install pynetworktables2js

    

On Linux/OSX you can execute::



    pip install pynetworktables2js



.. note:: Technically, there's nothing stopping you from installing this on

          your robot, as there is a python interpreter available on the 

          roboRIO (RobotPy). However, due to FRC bandwidth limitations,

          it's probably best to run the UI + server on your driver station

          laptop.



Why make an HTML/Javascript dashboard?

======================================



**TL;DR**: It's simpler.



pynetworktables2js lowers the barrier of entry for teams that want an

additional way to tune/control their robot with a minimal amount of

programming.



Lots of students and mentors know how to create simple web pages to display

content, and there's lots of resources out there for creating dynamic content

for webpages that use javascript. There is a lot of visually appealing

content that others have created using web technologies -- why not leverage

those resources to make something cool to control your robot?



Usage

=====



You can just distribute your HTML files, and run a pynetworktables server

using the following command from inside the directory::



    python3 -m pynetworktables2js



Or on Windows::



    py -3 -m pynetworktables2js



This will start a pynetworktables2js server using Tornado (which is installed

by default) and it will serve the current directory. You can navigate your

browser (I recommend Chrome) to http://127.0.0.1:8888 and see your website.



You will want to also pass either the ``--robot`` or ``--team`` switch::



    py -3 -m pynetworktables2js --robot roborio-XXXX-frc.local

    py -3 -m pynetworktables2js --team XXXX



Dashboard mode currently doesn't work, as the underlying support in

pynetworktables hasn't been implemented yet for the newer FRC Driver Station.



Customized python server

------------------------



There are two example servers distributed with pynetworktables2js, one that

uses `tornado `_, and one that uses

`aiohttp `_. Either one should work.



Go to the 'example' directory distributed with pynetworktables2js, and run::



    python3 tornado_server.py --robot 127.0.0.1



If you want to try this out with your current robot, you can do::



    python3 tornado_server.py --robot roborio-XXX.local

    

If you are running pynetworktables2js on your driver station laptop, you can

receive robot IP information directly from the Driver Station (handy during

actual competitions)::



    python3 tornado_server.py --dashboard



If you navigate your browser (I recommend Chrome) to http://127.0.0.1:8888, all

of the current NetworkTables values will be shown as they change.



One way of testing this out is use FIRST's TableViewer application (you can

launch it using the "Outline Viewer" WPILib menu item in Eclipse), and start

it in server mode.



Feel free to copy the example directory to create your own customized

dashboard. Just add your custom files to the www directory.



Contributing new changes

========================



pynetworktables2js is intended to be a project that all members of the `FIRST`

community can quickly and easily contribute to. If you find a bug, or have an

idea that you think others can use:



1. `Fork this git repository `_

   to your GitHub account

2. Create your feature branch (``git checkout -b my-new-feature``)

3. Commit your changes (``git commit -am 'Add some feature'``)

4. Push to the branch (``git push -u origin my-new-feature``)

5. Create new Pull Request on GitHub



One place in particular I would love to see contributions is in adding useful

JavaScript functions/objects that make creating dashboards even easier!



Authors

=======



Leon Tan of FRC Team 1418 did the initial research/work to get this working,

and created an initial working prototype for Team 1418's 2015 Dashboard, which

was instrumental to winning an Innovation In Control award at the 2015 Greater

DC Regional.



Dustin Spicuzza cleaned stuff up, rewrote things, added more functionality,

wrote documentation, and packaged it so other teams could use it.